ECB Announces $70B-a-month Quantitative Easing

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has announced the European Central Bank will pump up to $70 billion a month into the Eurozone until September 2016, putting the total value of the stimulus program at about $1.14 trillion. Draghi said the ECB will buy government bonds, debt securities issued by European institutions and private sector bonds.

The scheme, known as quantitative easing, is designed to boost the region’s economies and combat falling price growth. EU’s ultralow inflation came in at an annual minus 0.2% in December.

QE has already been implemented by other major central banks, such as the U.S. Fed, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England, in order to stimulate growth and counter deflationary pressures in their economies.

Draghi’s announcement comes after the ECB kept its main interest rate unchanged ahead of the expected announcement of the unconventional monetary program.